PowerSellers get more bids than regular sellers and it is why many sellers refuse
letting members with 0 feedback bid on their auctions...they simply don't trust
them. Trust makes people comfortable and gets rid of their doubts, and that is
what your about me page should do, gain trust.

Bottom line - You need to gain peoples trust, and an вЂњabout me pageвЂќ can
accomplish that.

A well-branded About Me page for a company.

75
The BIG 3
The big 3! These are the 3 most important things your listing should have! These
are the 3 things that will make you big money and make your listings into
ruthless super-listing that rob the competition of their customers. What are the
big 3? They are desire, comfort and convenience.

When you were reading about item descriptions, photos, guarantees, shipping
information, payment information, and graphics you probably noticed that the
big 3 were mentioned quite a few times. Yes this ebook is very repetitive and itвЂ™s
repetitive for a purpose! It is because the big 3 are BIG when it comes to making
people buy. So, when you are creating a listing keep the big 3 in mind...

Desire is the reason people click on your listing in the first place. They want
what you are selling, they have a desire to own the item you put up for auction.
The bigger the desire a person has the more likely they are to buy from you.

A person that visits your listing already comes with desire, your goal should be to
grow that desire, to give your visitor every reason why he/she should buy the
product you are selling from you.

This is why you need a detailed item description that excites your visitor, and
gives him/her every reason to buy the product. These reasons will appear in the
form of the products features and functions explained in an exciting and
flattering manner.

High quality photos that compliment the best features of a product can take the
visitor to another world, a word of day dreaming about the product he/she is
about to buy. This is why it is important to take good photos, because if the
photograph is of bad quality it will be much harder to imagine it in your hands.
Bad photographs can also make the product seem less valuable that it really is,
and take away the desire of the visitor.

You need to create value, you need to make the product look like a million bucks
and you can't do that with bad photos. Your goal is to grow your visitor's desire to
own the product as much as possible. To do this you need to make the product
look, sound and even feel the best it can. You can accomplish this with a detailed
and complementing item description and high quality photographs that make the
product look great.

Comfort is an extremely important part of your listing. You need to make your
visitors feel comfortable and take away any doubts they may have about buying
from you. If you're listing makes people uncomfortable because it is confusing,
difficult to read and doesn't include enough information, you are in big trouble.

76
You don't want confusion, difficulty and lack of information to be associated with
your listing, because those are all negative things that scare away visitors. If your
listing makes people uncomfortable, they will begin to have serious doubts about
buying from you, one doubt is often enough to make a visitor click the back
button, doubts will scare them away for good. You might as well include a link to
your competition.

You need to make your visitors feel as comfortable as they possibly can. You can
accomplish this with a detailed description that leaves no questions unanswered
and clear photos that show the product from every side. This will familiarize the
visitor with the object of their desire and take away any doubts they may have
about what it is exactly that they are buying.

Offering different payment options gives the visitor some control over the buying
process, and so do different shipping options. Being in control is very
comfortable, that is why you need to let the customer be in charge of as many
parts of the buying process as possible.

Being in control will take away doubts as well, because the customer's doubts
are not about whether or not he/she is cable of payment or holding his/hers end
of the deal. The doubts are about you and whether you will deliver as promised.
The more they control the less you can do wrong.

The ultimate crusher of doubts and uncomfortable feelings is the guarantee, the
100% money back guarantee. If the visitor has any doubts left about buying from
you, they will be taken away by the guarantee; because with your great
guarantee, there is nothing to lose.

If the customer's worst dreams come true after he/she buys the product, they can
still get their money back. People are extremely comfortable with buying things
when they know that if there is anything wrong with the item, they can get their
money back.

Convenience is part of making the customer feel comfortable. You need to
make the buying process as convenient and easy for the customer as possible.
Convenience is a big reason why people buy things off of eBay, because it's
easy. You're a couple of mouse clicks away and you don't even have to leave the
house. So don't make it difficult and confusing for the customer to buy from you.

Remember, buying off the internet is supposed to be easy, simple and
convenient. Not difficult, confusing and inconvenient. Don't make it a hassle for
the customer to pay you buy offering only one payment option.

Be sure to have several payment options; not just Paypal. And remember to let
the customer choose the speed at which the item will be shipped to him/her
(standard, priority, express).

77
Make the actual buying process as easy as possible for the customer, don't make
it a journey. You don't want the customer giving up half way through.

It is extremely easy to make the buying presses easy for your customers. A
simple listing, payment choices and shipping choices and going to do the trick.
That is extremely easy, it's not this easy in other kinds of businesses.

Big companies spent hundreds of millions of dollars to make their products and
services more convenient and all you have to do is make an easy to read listing
and offer shipping and payment options...that's easy! Convenience is big, no one
want a hassle, that's why remote controls and cell phone were invented. No
really, can you imagine buying a TV that doesn't come with a remote control!?

The BIG 3
Desire
Comfort
Convenience

78
Starting Prices
Once you are done making your super listing, it's time to list it! And the last thing
left to do is decide on a starting price. If you don't already know, the starting
price can play a major part in the number of bids your auctions receive and the
final price the auction closes at. Starting the bidding at one price instead of
another can mean more than a 25% difference in the final price your item sells at.

So here is what you need to know about starting prices:

$1 no reserve: listings starting at $1 and no reserve are a favorite among
"eBayers" and constantly out perform those listing that start at higher prices or
have a reserve. 1 Penny/No reserve is another popular variation.

I understand that it can be scary to start something that's worth a lot more at $1
and no reserve. You obviously don't want to end up selling something you paid a
fortune for, for only a $1. Don't worry, in most cases you won't. But before you go
and start everything you have at $1 there is a few things you should know.

The reason $1NR auctions do so well is obviously because it is starting only at
one dollar! Some people might even place a few bids even if they don't really
need what you're selling. $1NR auctions get a lot more bids than auctions that
have reserves and start at high prices. It is not unusual for someone to start off
the bidding within a couple of hours of the item being listed. And the first bid is a
big deal.

With $1NR auctions every bid can end up being the winning bid, even if it's $1!

The first bid gets the ball rolling, and someone is a lot more likely to "get the ball
rolling" if the first bid is only $1 as apposed to $100. As people see an item with a
$1 bid on it they are going to want to get in on the action.

As the bidding accelerates and the price of the item rises several bidders will
emerge that will be serious about winning the bidding. There will also be a couple
of silent watchers that stay quiet until the last minutes of the auction to place their
bids in an attempt to steal the item away from right under other bidders' noses.

People will also feel more comfortable placing a bid on something that already
has several bids. This is because there are other people doing the same thing. I
know it may be hard to believe, but people feel more comfortable doing
something if others are doing it with them. No one wants to do everything by
themselves, this goes for bidding to.

I know that when I am about to bid on something that has no bids on it, I think to
79
myself "how come no one is bidding on this, is there something wrong with item?
Or maybe it's the seller?" These thoughts create doubts in my mind and I usually
wait until someone else starts of the bidding, but sometimes it never happens.
Perhaps it's because everyone is waiting for "someone else" to start the bidding.

If you are going to start an item that is in demand at $1NR, it will most likely sell
for a higher price than items that have a high starting price. But if you are selling
something that is not in demand and not very popular at $1NR it might actually
sell for a dollar.

$1NR is not for everything, it's for the more popular and sought-after products
out there. Some people think that all they have to do is start the bidding at a
dollar and they will get a good selling price...sorry, that's not the way it works.

If you are selling something that is not in demand its better to start the bidding
close to what you actually want the item to sell for (if it doesn't sell, re-list it).
What often happens with unpopular items that start at $1NR is only one or two
people notice it and wait until the last minute to place a bid and the product ends
up selling for a very low price.

Reserve auctions: if you put a reserve on an auction, you can still start the
bidding at $1...but the item won't sell unless the reserve price is met. So if you
are scared to start the bidding at $1 and no reserve, set a low reserve.

HereвЂ™s my formula for a successful $1NR auction:

Popular item + well written listing + $1NR = Fair market value will be seen

You have to realize that if you do everything right, then you will get fair market
value. That value may be more or less than what you were expecting, but the
final bid will be representative of what the market will bear. Of course there are a
few exceptions, but in general you will find this to be true. Once again, keep in
mind that the formula assumes you are listing it in the right category, using
pictures, detailed description, etc.

Most "eBayers" hate reserve auctions, some simply refuse to even look at
them. The reason for all the reserve hating is because reserve auctions can be
extremely frustrating. Sometimes a person can spend 7 or 10 days bidding on an
item only to have the reserve not met at the end of the auction.

It is also frustrating to place bid after bid and get a big bold "reserve not met"
after every bid. Most people don't want to play games, at least not frustrating
ones. Imagine going to the supermarket, giving the clerk money and hearing "try
higher" from the clerk!

80
If your reserve is too high, even if you get a lot of bids in the beginning, most
bidders will quit from frustration and boredom due to seeing "reserve not met"
too many times. So if you must use reserve auctions set the reserve as low as
possible.

Even though most eBayers hate reserve auctions, there are still a lot of people
that don't mind reserves. Those people who don't mind realize that with reserve
auctions there is less completion and that the reserve is probably set at a
reasonable price that is still much lower than retail. Reserve auctions are not
always bad, especially if you are selling something very expensive. In that case
most bidders will understand.

A reserve auction can never create as much excitement as a $1NR auction, but
that doesn't mean there is nothing exciting about reserve auctions. The
excitement in reserve auctions happens when the reserve is met. When the
reserve is met, that means the item will sell and this is when the real bidding
begins.

A met reserve can create a lot of excitement among everyone that has already
placed a bid or two and can attract new bidders, even ones that hate reserve
auction, because the "evil reserve" is now gone! So if you are too scared for a
$1NR auction go ahead and use a reserve but make sure you set the reserve
price low to create excitement as soon as possible.

Other starting prices: you obviously do not have to use a reserve in your
auction or start the bidding at one dollar. You can set the starting price as high or
as low as you want. You can start it at 1 cent or you can start it at $1,000. The
thing you must keep in mind when deciding the starting prices, the higher the
starting price the higher the listing fee will be.

If you are going to sell products that are not in high demand you shouldn't start
the bidding at a dollar because a lot of times your item might only get one bid. So
set the starting price close to what you actually want for the item, but remember
to be realistic.

If you are selling used jeans that sell for $80 in stores, start them at $5 - $10, or a
little higher than what you bought them for (from a supplier). If you are selling
used products, remember that used is much cheaper than new. So you should
start used products for the same price you buy them at from your supplier.

Remember not to get too greedy when deciding on starting prices, try and set the
starting price as low as possible. If you must set a high starting price don't start
the item higher than you bought it for, this way you have nothing to lose and the
price will still be lower then the retail. If the starting price is relatively high make
sure to let everyone know the retail value of the product you are selling, so they